Minister insists cutting livestock numbers does not make sense

CUTTING livestock numbers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions makes neither economic sense nor, in global terms , environmental sense.

That’s what Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security. He said any shortfall on markets, brought about by a reduction in Irish livestock output, will be filled by produce from less sustainable farming systems with a far greater carbon footprint than the Irish produce it displaces.

Mr Smith said farmers and the food industry are fully aware of their environmental and climate-related obligations